


the fire that haunts my soul

by samwhambam



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Haunting, M/M, david does not believe in ghosts, ghost - Freeform, patrick is a believer, the ghost does not try to harm them, there is a ghost that haunts the store, there is reference to fire, things move on their own, weird noises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 15:50:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21255851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samwhambam/pseuds/samwhambam
Summary: There is a ghost that haunts Rose Apothecary. She keeps trying to get Patrick's attention and he doesn't know what he needs to do to get her to leave.





	the fire that haunts my soul

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [kiranerys42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiranerys42/pseuds/kiranerys42) in the [Schittscreekspookyseason](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Schittscreekspookyseason) collection. 

> Hi! Nothing too spooky happens in this fic! BUT IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO FIRE, there is a fire during a dream sequence and someone does die in the fire in this dream. I tried to make it super obvious when Patrick goes to sleep, but in case you're not sure and you want to skip the dream, it's the big block of italics a little over halfway through the fic! I don't think it's graphic, but I know everyone has different definitions of "graphic", so if there is, please let me know. 
> 
> Thanks didi for beta-ing and being awesome.

Patrick was nervous. He didn’t know why, but the thought of seeing David today made him sweat. He contemplated mailing the license, but there was a corner of his mind that was begging him to hand deliver the certificate. He had been enthralled by David from their meeting. The warbled business plan had been entertaining, the voicemails charming and the overall demeanor bewitching. It was kind of like seeing a unicorn. But better. Because unicorns weren’t real and David Rose had been tangible. 

So he decided to hand deliver the license and of course he bought a frame because delivering card stock on its own was depressing. He felt the need to make a good second impression to kickstart a friendship. 

When he opened the door to the shop, he had genuinely been impressed with the work David had done. It looked nothing like the dank room that Patrick had seen when he looked in through the front window weeks before. Now it was bright, airy and crisp. Impressive. 

Alexis was friendly. Well, Patrick was 85% sure she was flirting with him when she lathered him in products and wrapped him in a very itchy scarf that made him sneeze. Patrick tried to seem interested, but he kept glancing back with every sound that came from the back room. He wanted to make sure he talked to David before he ran out of reasons to wait for him. 

Even when David insulted the frame he chose, Patrick knew they could have a good friendship. He just picked up the ease with which they interacted and filed it away in his mind and labeled that folder with ‘ _ reasons why I want to be friends.’  _ Making friends as an adult was hard, but making friends as an adult in a new town where he had no footing or stability was harder. 

When Alexis volunteered him to help, Patrick went with it. He was a nice guy and business with Ray was slow and David had looked so appreciative that Patrick could not say no. He listened to David's directions, placing boxes in their products potential area and helped move tables and tried to not let Alexis distract him, no matter how hard she tried. And she gave very honest efforts. 

David pulled Alexis away from the store on a quick trip to the cafe. Before David left, he gave Patrick a long list that Patrick would for sure finish by the time the siblings meandered their way back to the shop. 

Patrick couldn’t find the box he was looking for. He could swear he had set it down on the floor, to the left of the stairwell entrance. David must have moved it before he left, but he hadn’t seen David with a box when he would’ve had to have moved it. He looked around and nothing. 

He was warm from moving the heavier boxes and he wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. The box wasn’t within eyesight, so instead, Patrick picked up the small metal table that David wanted upstairs, the one that had sent David into a 10 minute rant about how metal had no place in the sand and stone color moodboard he was creating. 

Patrick was halfway up the stairs when he felt a chill go down his spine. He paused, his feet planted, and let it ripple out of his body. He climbed the rest of the stairs once he felt stable and crossed the room to put down the table in a corner. He stood still for a second to appreciate the cool draft in the room against his overheated skin. Each box on their own wasn’t heavy, but Patrick was doing the heavy lifting for three people and he was  _ sweating.  _ He stood with his eyes closed and only moved when he heard David and Alexis walking up the front steps. 

He ran back down the steps to meet them. David held out his iced tea and Patrick took it gratefully. 

“Hey, where did you move the box of unscented candles to?” Patrick asked as he raised his eyebrows at David. He didn’t include Alexis in the question because today’s first impression told him she didn’t touch it. 

“I didn’t move it,” David replied and Patrick let out a  _ huh.  _

“I’ll find it,” Patrick said. He put down his tea and began to shift the boxes. 

~

David had accepted his investment offer and Patrick was thrilled. So thrilled and so excited, but he was also so incredibly angry with himself because the crush was growing exponentially faster than he thought it would. There was one part of his brain that was screaming at him, telling him how this was only going to end in pain. But, David was gorgeous and he was feeling things and he owed it to himself to see it out. 

He paused before he rounded the corner of the shop. It was his first day at work and he was excited to officially start. He took a deep breath, letting his lungs expand to fill his chest. He could do this. He focused on the pressure in his chest, letting it ground him. When he exhaled, he focused on his lungs deflating and gripped the strap of his bag. 

Patrick continued his walk and watched his feet hit the pavement. When he reached the first stair, he looked up and smiled at David’s retreating form through the window. Patrick opened the door as David’s black sweater disappeared into one of the back hallways. He placed his bag on one of the tables they had yet to set up completely. 

“Hey,” David called out. 

Patrick responded his own greeting as he pulled out his laptop. 

“Did you get those webpages I forwarded to you?” Patrick asked. David walked up to him, his sweater of the day was a light gray with the words “love me tender” on it. Patrick pushed the thought  _ ‘let me love you’  _ out of his mind as David stopped next to him because now wasn’t the time or place to acknowledge that his feelings stretched further than being just a strong desire for friendship. 

“Yeah. Let me know when you’re ready to work on them,” David said. He was holding his journal, eyes flickering back and forth between the page and the wall across from him. “I think I know where I want the furniture.”

But Patrick wasn’t paying attention. His laptop was on, but glitching. The screen a distorted, pixelated swath of blue. He tapped at the keyboard, turned it off and then stepped away as it turned back on. It had been working at Ray’s and until Rose Apothecary was in the black, Patrick couldn’t afford a new one. 

“Let’s move the tables now while my laptop restarts. It’s being weird,” Patrick said.

He helped David move tables and boxes and by the time they were done, his computer was back to normal. He hummed in gratitude as he pulled up the different grant applications. He clicked through, asking David questions as David gingerly placed labels on a new shipment. 

That night, Patrick sat on the couch, only half paying attention to the movie Ray had insisted he sit and watch. Most of his attention was on his laptop. He raked through all the proposals, the letters and the business plans with a fine tooth comb. He needed it to be perfect. He needed to get the money. He needed the business to be successful because he needed to continue to be around David. 

David had turned on a light in Patrick’s mind, shone light into the dark recesses of his brain and had given him something to be genuinely happy about, for the first time in years. 

~

Setting up the store went smoothly. Well as smoothly as it could with David being a constant distraction for Patrick. He kept misplacing boxes and items and he blamed it on David who surprisingly preferred to strike up conversation while they worked. Until Patrick hit him with a jab that he couldn’t return and David slinked back in defeat, but the smiles Patrick got in return told him it was okay, it was perfect. 

Patrick had already determined his favorite spots to work in when on his computer. The small desk that they--the store, technically--had bought for the back room was the perfect height for the rather comfortable chair David had gotten and the front counter had the best wifi connection. His computer still glitched, but way less often and Patrick pushed that worry into the back of his mind. 

From the front counter, he had a better vantage point of David, who was constantly rearranged products and made Patrick pretend to shop so he could record which arrangements had the better shopping flow. That was Patrick’s favorite way to mess with David. There was one time where David asked him to pretend to be shopping for bath products and Patrick had picked up a shampoo bottle and asked if they had a “3-in-1” product so he could save time in the morning and David had busted a stitch. 

_ “What’s the ‘3’ in the ‘3-in-1’ product? Patrick! What are you doing to yourself?!”  _ David had screeched and Patrick lost it. He had laughed out loud as David walked away muttering expletives under his breath. Patrick had a wide smile on his face into the night. 

The night before their ‘ _ soft opening _ ’ came and the shop was a flurry of last minute prep. Patrick had called the insurance company earlier in the day once he registered David’s emerging anxiety spiral and he was almost out of the door when he remembered the sconces that had never been put up. He put his stuff down and pulled up a youtube video on his laptop. 

It was simple enough. Well, at least it looked simple. He got the first one up and it worked. Patrick was working on the second one when something uneasy spread over him. He couldn’t articulate the feeling, but it felt like someone was looking at him. When he turned around, he expected David to be at the front door, back to fix something he had forgotten about. But no one was there. 

_ Huh.  _

He went back to fixing the second light, ignoring whatever he felt. The whole thing took longer than he anticipated, but when he left, both lights worked. 

Opening day was a success. The store was full and people were purchasing bags of products. He heard murur after murur about how impressed people were by everything and he was so  _ proud _ of everything that David created. Patrick just ran the numbers. 

But nothing compared to the feeling that spread through Patrick’s chest when David looked up and smiled at him. Patrick had caught himself staring throughout the day and really, it was only a matter of time before he was caught in the act. 

That smile had left him breathless and addicted and itching to see it again. 

“It’s busy,” David said once he got a moment to walk up to the counter. 

“Yeah, it is,” Patrick said. He could hear how soft his voice was and Patrick couldn’t help but feel pathetic. 

“How are the numbers?” David said as he waved a hand around the register. 

“Not bad. Feel like we’re missing some numbers. Maybe 25% of the numbers,” Patrick teased. 

“Okay,” David said as he took a step away from Patrick. “Don’t need that.”

“Let me know if you want to switch roles for a bit.” Patrick offered and David scoffed at him. 

“You can not work the floor yet. You haven’t been properly trained on the products,” David said as he shook his head and walked off. 

Patrick watched David walk away and shook his head with laughter when David turned back to glare at him. The crush was getting a little too intense, but it was turning into a lifeline for Patrick, something he could hold onto when everything else in life felt like too much. 

The hours passed by and  _ finally _ , the last person to check out walked out of the door, an hour after their official closing time. David followed them out while Patrick started to close out the till. He looked up as David locked the door. When David turned around, he smiled that same smile from earlier and Patrick stopped what he was doing. He walked around the counter and leaned back on it as David turned the sign to  _ closed.  _

Patrick wasn’t sure who was the first to talk but he was the one to raise his arms, initiate the hug. David looked a little unsure, but he stepped into it. They relaxed into it slowly and then all at once. David breathed out a steady breath and against what he thought was smart, Patrick let his body line up with David. They were so close and David’s hands were large and warm on Patrick’s back.

He swooned as David’s pulled him in closer. He could feel the courage slowly building, the words bubbled up his throat. They tapped at the back of his tongue but before he could say it, the sconces flickered and he could feel David tilt his head in confusion. 

“I can fix that,” Patrick muttered as he let go of David. 

“I’m going to start cleaning up while you do that,” David said.

Patrick turned to finish counting and his closing activities were littered with David gasping about pieces of cupcake that he found throughout the store. Patrick was unwiring the lights when he got spooked by David’s shout of ‘ _ EW!’  _ at a used napkin that was wedged between two baskets. 

“These people are animals!” David hissed vehemently and Patrick hummed along as he hung up the phone after Ronnie promised to swing by in the morning before opening to take a quick look at the lights. 

Patrick helped David clean and soon they were standing in front of Rose Apothecary in silence. Patrick didn’t move to walk away. The air was too still, like it had decided to wait until the two men said a real, meaningful goodbye, to continue. 

He wanted to say something, to end the night on the perfect note, but one look at David who gazed at the store with a soft smile, shut Patrick up. Any meaningful one-liner Patrick could think of wasnt enough for the moment. Not when David turned to face him. 

“We did it,” David whispered. 

“We really did,” Patrick agreed. 

David smiler a full smile and Patrick felt all the air in his lungs  _ whoosh  _ out. 

“Good night, Patrick,” David said as he started to walk away. 

“See you tomorrow, David.” Patrick replied. He watched David walk away until David was out of sight, much closer to the motel than he was the store. 

Patrick tossed one more look at the dark, empty storefront and began to walk away. He stopped when a bright light lit up the sidewalk around him. He looked back at the store and—

“What the fuck?”

All the lights in the store were on and he watched in confusion as they all turned off and then one by one, each light fixture in the store turned on and then off. Even the sconces turned on where he left them on the counter. 

He rubbed at his eyes and then all the lights were off. He wanted to leave it, walk home, but he unlocked the door quickly. He turned his phone light on and went back into the stockroom and turned all the switches on the breaker box to ‘off.’

As he was about to leave, he heard footsteps on the stairs. 

Patrick turned his flashlight to the stairs and called out. No one responded, so he walked over. He pulled his keys out and sandwiched his house and car key between the knuckles of his left hand and walked up the stairs. 

From the top step he looked around the room and saw nothing. He wrapped his arms around his torso at the cold sleeping into his skin. A cloud of steam formed when he exhaled in frustration. The AC wasn’t on, so  _ what was happening? _

He figured whatever it was wasn’t good. 

Patrick checked all the rooms, there was no one. The electricity was off. There was no explanation for any of it. 

So he left quickly, locking the door soundly behind him. Whatever it was, it could wait until the morning. He was probably just imagining it all. 

~

“Have the lights ever flickered on you?” Patrick asked. 

David looked up from the bath products he was restocking. His face screwed up in confusion and Patrick knew the answer. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. “It happened last night with the lights you wired.”

“Besides that. In general. Have the other lights flickered?” Patrick asked. He pressed down on the down arrow on his laptop and watched the green box dance around his spreadsheet. 

“No, why?” David asked as he broke down the empty box in his hands. 

“No reason,” Patrick said. He focused back on his laptop, adjusting their inventory after the previous day. “All the lights flickered last night in a weird pattern. I turned off the breaker box incase it was faulty wiring, but Ronnie said everything looked fine this morning. I’m still going to call an electrician to come take a look.”

“Okay,” David said. “I’m going to take this out.”

Patrick watched David walk through the front doors. He heard footsteps above him and he ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time. There was no one upstairs. 

Something weird was going on with the building and he didn’t know what. 

~

Weeks passed and Patrick was more on edge than he had ever been. The noises were becoming more frequent. Lights flickered regularly, never when David or customers were in the shop, thankfully. He always felt like there was someone there watching him. 

On top of it all, his crush on David had developed and was now morphing into infatuation. Not love, yet. He couldn’t concentrate on anything when David was near him and he spent all of his free time thinking about David and when he should make a move, if he should make a move. 

He thought about him while he was cooking dinner and in bed and on his routine hikes. He thought about what he could cook for David that would get him to smile his full smile. He thought about what David would taste like, what sounds he made when he came. He imagined David hiking alongside him and he wondered what he would complain about. Probably the lack of service. Or the bugs. Or even just the incline. 

David was invading Patrick’s life with his crooked smile, teasing and caring personality. David was beautiful and particular. He cared about things so strongly and deeply. Patrick loved hearing him tell stories about his family and Stevie. The twinkle in his eye always betrayed his exasperated tone. God, it was beautiful.

Patrick sighed as he opened a new shipment in the stockroom. He pulled out each bottle, checking for imperfections when he heard it. He turned his face up towards the ceiling at the three loud, sharp knocks. He put the box down on the ground before rushing out to the store front. David looked at him in alarm. 

“Did you hear that?” Patrick asked as he rushed to the stairs across the floor.

“Yeah. Was that not you?” David asked. He followed Patrick up the stairs as the three thuds repeated itself. 

“No one,” Patrick said as David stopped next to him. 

They were at the bottom of the stairs when the noises happened again. Patrick checked the other rooms. No one.

“Patrick?” David asked as Patrick ran out of the store.

He circled the building, trying to see if there was anything on the roof. 

“What are those noises?!” Patrick asked once he was back at the front doors.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think they’re a big deal,” David asked. He placed a hand on Patrick’s arm and Patrick gasped as the heat seeped through his shirt. 

David let go of him and Patrick wanted to yell at him to put it back. The adrenaline was pumping through his veins and David raised his eyebrows in concern. 

“Patrick, are you okay?” David asked and Patrick melted at just how caring David always was. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Patrick shook his head. “I just keep hearing noises and I can’t figure out what they are.”

David tilted his head at him. 

“Okay. Let me know if you need anything,” David offered and Patrick had to shake his head to clear all the needs out of his mind. 

“Thank you, David,” Patrick said instead.

The next morning, Patrick woke up and felt like he got hit by a truck. His throat was scratchy and he was more tired than he was when he went to bed the night before. He reached for his phone to call David and when the phone went to voicemail, he sighed and set a second alarm. He went back to sleep and woke up an hour later and groaned when he felt the same. He tried to call David a second time but it went to voicemail again. 

“Fuck, okay,” Patrick muttered as he rolled out of bed. 

“Patrick! Are you not awake yet?” Ray called out as he swung open the door. 

“Ray, not today, okay?” Patrick croaked. He cringed at his own raspy voice.

“Okay, Patrick,” Ray said as he backed out of Patrick’s room. He left the door open and Patrick groaned in frustration. 

He got ready in record time and opened the store at 9:01, after taking ibuprofen. He pulled one of their chairs, one with a back, to the counter and sat and stared at the door, willing David to come soon. He felt miserable. The itch in his throat was starting to get worse and he was convinced that his cough could be heard from outside. His joints ached and his eyes felt warm and he knew that if he could just sleep, it’d work itself out. 

“10 more minutes,” Patrick said to himself. He was giving David 10 more minutes until he locked the store back up and went home to nap. 

Nine minutes later, David opened the front door and Patrick sagged in relief. 

“Wow, you look awful,” David commented and Patrick coughed in response. David grimaced at the loud hacking. He stood still and Patrick rolled his eyes at David’s obvious discomfort. 

“I need a nap,” Patrick said as he stood up. He turned and walked into the back room, where they had a fairly comfortable couch and a blanket that David used to curl up under during his lunch break, while he worked on something in his journal. 

Patrick settled in and before he fell asleep, he saw David’s long arm reach into the room and turn off the light. He fell asleep with a smile on his face at that ridiculous man. 

_ Patrick was standing at the counter, going over inventory. Except the screen of his computer was black. But he was still tapping away at his keyboard.  _

_ He felt something creeping down his spine. It felt like ants prickling at his skin as they scurried down and slightly across his back. He tried to focus back on filling out his sheet, but he felt a weird heat licking at his arms and he shook them out. It just fanned the flames and what was just a feeling of warmth before felt like intense heat.  _

_ He was screaming in his dream as the heat gave way to a searing pain. When he looked down, there was a bright orange glow to his skin.  _

_ ‘Patrick!’ A voice called out to him and when he looked towards the voice, there was a tall woman standing in the doorway to the stairs.  _

_ Patrick screamed in agony in return.  _

_ “Get out! You gotta leave! Save yourself! Go to him!” She yelled back at him.  _

_ “Oh my god!” Patrick screeched as the woman burst into flames.  _

_ “Patrick!” A man’s voice called out and Patrick turned to the front door. David was standing outside, pulling at the doors in a panic. His face was twisted into a frozen fear and Patrick ran to the door.  _

_ The pain in his skin was unbearable and he didn’t know how much more he could take it.  _

_ He reached out to grasp the doorknob, but when his hand touched it, it burned the palm of his hand. Steam rose from his skin. He banged his fists against the glass, hitting it harder and harder but his skin bruised and the glass didn’t shatter.  _

_ “Come to me! Patrick! I love you! Get out of there!” David screamed.  _

_ “I’m trying!” Patrick called back. He threw his weight against the door and it still didn’t budge.  _

_ David’s eyes widened in horror and Patrick turned around in time to see the building around him start to turn into ash. The pain in his skin stopped abruptly and when he looked down, his skin was completely charred and flakey.  _

“Patrick!” A voice called out and Patrick shot up. He opened his eyes to see David staring at him, his hands right on Patrick’s arm and thigh. “Patrick.”

“Oh my god,” Patrick panted. He brought his hands to his face and grimaced at the thick layer of sweat covering his face. His shirt was damp and stuck to his skin. “I just had the worst dream.”

His heart raced as he thought about the woman at the bottom of the stairs. She had shouted at him in earnest and screamed as the flames engulfed her. The image was seared in his mind. 

“There was a woman and a fire and the store burned down and I felt the pain,” Patrick babbled. “You were there and everything hurt.”

David moved his hands, one coming up to press against Patrick’s temple. 

“You’re burning up. You need to go home,” David said as he stood up. “Do you have tea and medicine at home?”

Patrick tried to think of what was in the pantry, but his mind wouldn’t wander from the woman’s anguish. He tried to speak but couldn’t. With a huff, he let go of his face and stared at his palms. The skin was bright red and it hurt to flex his hands. The affected skin was patterned, as if the door knob in his dream had actually burned him. 

“I’ll get you a bag of stuff. Come on,” David said. He pulled Patrick up to stand. 

Patrick swayed on his feet, but was able to follow David out to the front. He accepted the bag David handed him and he drove himself home in a daze. 

He didn’t return to the store the next day, or the day after that. But when he did, he caught himself staring at the stairs. 

~

Patrick watched as David reorganized the scarves for the second time that morning. 

“This area looks too bulky,” David said as he stepped back. “I know I originally said that we should hang them on hooks, but it doesn’t look right.”

He turned back to look at Patrick and raised his eyebrows as Patrick just stared. 

“What?” David asked. 

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Patrick asked in response. 

“Ghosts? No,” David shook his head. 

“Why not?” Patrick countered. 

“Do you?” 

“Maybe,” Patrick answered with a shrug. “Don’t have a good reason not to.”

“Ghosts aren’t real. They feasibly can’t be real. There is no afterlife so how can there be ghosts?” David explained as he turned to fiddle with the scarf display. He pulled half of them from the hooks and began to roll them. 

“So you think that when we die, that’s it?” Patrick asked for clarification. 

“Yeah. No one has proved to me otherwise,” David rolled another scarf quickly. He tucked the ends into the middle so they didn’t unravel. 

“So if you saw a ghost, you would believe?” Patrick couldn’t let it go. 

“Maybe,” David started to sound exasperated. “Why? Why all the ghost talk?” 

“I think this building is haunted,” Patrick said. He watched as David stilled and turned to look at him. 

“Not you too!” David threw his hands up. 

“Me too? Who else has said it?” Patrick asked. 

“Twyla! When she found out I leased this space, she went on and on about how I needed to watch out because there was a ghost that haunted the building and how she could never get a feel for the ghost, so it might be harmful,” David rolled his eyes. 

_ Why didn’t he ask sooner?! _

“I’ll be right back!” Patrick called out as he rounded the corner and jogged out of the store. 

He pushed open the doors to the cafe, relieved to see that the cafe was nearly empty. 

“Patrick! Your morning usual?” Twyla asked as Patrick approached the counter. 

“Yeah, sure,” Patrick nodded, but he continued before Twyla could walk away. “Have you noticed any weird, activity? With the Apothecary building?”

Twyla furrowed her brows at him. 

“Activity?” She asked but then her eyebrows shot up in recognition. “Oh! The ghost! Yeah, she’s been there for a long time. She just kind of hangs out there.”

“What’s her story?” Patrick asked as he sat down. 

“I think she was caught in a fire when the original building there burned down. I think it happened in the ‘40’s? Maybe 50’s? Not sure on the date,” Twyla shrugged as she shifted to grab his and David’s usual pastries. “Ray probably knows more details. You see her too?”

Patrick was distracted by the first part of what she said. The words clicked and he shook his head. 

“Yeah. I’ve seen her,” Patrick offered up. Twyla nodded then walked away. “I was sick and taking a nap in the back and she talked to me and told me to do something I’ve been wanting to do.”

When she came back, she was holding the two drinks. 

“Other people have seen her too,” Twyla reassured him as he handed her the money. “I don’t think she wants to hurt anyone. I’m not sure what she’s waiting for, what needs to happen for her to cross over, but if she’s talking to you, listen to her. You might be able to help her.”

Patrick nodded as he bit his bottom lip. He was still deep in thought when he took the drinks and snacks back to the store. David made grabby hands at his portions and Patrick laughed, snapped out of his trance as he handed the items to David and David’s face relaxed with the first sip of his coffee. 

“Thank you, Patrick,” David said as he picked off a bite of his chocolate chip muffin. His grin was soft and easy and Patrick felt his heart melt. 

“Anytime, David.” 

~

He knew he was out of his depth with David. He didn’t know how to approach the idea of morphing their friendship into a relationship. If David even wanted it. Patrick thought David might be into it. There was always a base level of almost flirting that Patrick was fairly convinced was real, but there was always the possibility that it wasn’t. 

Last night had been the farthest their almost-flirting had gone. Patrick had bought a fairly nice bottle of whiskey from the big grocery store in Elmdale the last time he was there. He had taken it to Rose Apothecary with the intent to share it with David. It was too nice to drink alone at Ray’s. 

After closing, Patrick had poured them each a glass and they sat in the stockroom and drank. They finished their first glass and Patrick poured them another. David thanked him, sank further into his chair and propped his feet on the couch next to where Patrick was sitting. 

Patrick was teasing David. About what? He couldn’t remember. But David was so beautiful with his flushed skin and whiskey-loosened smile. It took Patrick’s breath away. David laughed at something Patrick said and Patrick felt something nudge his hand and place it on David’s leg. 

He realized what he did and froze. He looked up in panic and David stared at him. He didn’t look angry or uncomfortable. His eyes flickered between Patrick’s hand on his leg and Patrick’s face. Something crackled between them and Patrick could’ve sworn that David leaned in a hair. 

But he panicked. He wanted it. So bad. But he wasn’t ready. There was too much on the line. If he kissed David and it wasn’t what David wanted, it would ruin him. Their working relationship and friendship would be unsalvageable. 

So instead, he let go of David’s leg and tipped back the rest of his whiskey. David did the same and the moment was over. They stood up in silence, put everything away and then left in their separate directions.

When Patrick got in bed that night, he stared at the ceiling and he regretted not making a move. He should’ve. The moment was there. David  _ had  _ leaned in, Patrick decided. He just needed to go for it. He needed to find the moment and  _ go for it.  _

Patrick had just finished ringing up a customer when David came up to him. 

“Did you put in the reorder with Brenda yet?” David asked him. 

“Not yet,” Patrick said as he printed out the store receipt. 

“I’ll do that real quick,” David said. He moved to go back into the stockroom, but Patrick grabbed his arm.

“David, look,” Patrick whispered. The woman was back and she stood in her normal spot at the base of the stairs and watched them.

“What?” David asked as he turned around quickly. But as he moved, the woman moved up the stairs. 

“The ghost was back!” Patrick said. He let go of David and moved to look up the stairs. “Come on!”

David rolled his eyes and followed Patrick up the stairs. 

Nothing. 

“I swear she was there!” Patrick exclaimed. 

“Sure, Patrick,” David said as he walked away and back into the stockroom. 

“One of these days, you’re going to see her and you’ll finally believe me!” Patrick called after him. 

He knew that even if David heard him, he wasn’t going to respond. He looked back up the staircase and gasped once he noticed an orange goo dripping down the walls of the stairwell. 

“David!” Patrick called out as he ran back across the store. “David!”

Patrick really hoped that David hadn’t called Brenda yet. 

David popped his head out of the curtain. 

“Come look!” Patrick gestured for him to follow and David did. 

“What the fuck is that?!” David called out as he looked closer at the goo. 

“I don’t know! It’s new though,” Patrick commented. 

“Could it be the AC?” David asked and Patrick shrugged because he had no idea. 

“I’ll call Ronnie and see if we can get her opinion,” Patrick suggested. “I really don’t know what it is.”

David nodded. 

“Call her.”

Patrick went back to the register to to grab his phone out of his favorite drawer, but when he got back to the staircase, the goo was gone. 

~

He did it. He asked David out. He oversprayed the vegetables and had to wipe them down and he didn’t explicitly say that it was a date, but he asked David out to dinner. 

_ He did it. _

It was David’s birthday and he was going to take him out to dinner, drive him home and kiss him. He even had a gift he could give David to show just how much he cared about him and their business. How he thought about David at all times, enough that he saved the receipt from their first sale for him, blocked out the card information and framed it. He was going to give it to David at Christmas, but it was time. 

He spent the rest of the day in a haze as he worked around David. A comfortable silence settled over them as they stocked shelves and upsold customers. There was a growing buzz of anticipation growing in Patrick and once the after lunch rush hit, Patrick was glad for the distractions. He hadn’t felt this energized in a long time. It cackled around him as he worked and he wondered if David could feel it too. He had to.

Patrick could feel eyes on him, but everytime he looked at David, David was busy and looking down at his work. Everytime he looked at the stairwell, the doorway was empty but he could feel the woman’s presence. 

“You okay? You seem distracted?” David asked as he sidled up next to him. 

“I’m fine,” Patrick smiled at David and David smiled back as he helped Patrick fold the sweaters that had been rifled through. 

“Regretting the dinner plans, yet?” David asked quietly. 

“Of course not,” Patrick blushed.

David hummed as he nodded his head. 

“Thinking about the ghost that doesn’t exist?” David asked with a smirk and oh, Patrick didn’t know if he loved it or hated it. Of course he loved that small, satisfied smirk. 

“Careful, you’re going to make her mad,” Patrick teased. “She already loves to stand really close to you. Think she’s touched your arms a few times.”

“Okay, that doesn’t scare me because ghosts aren’t real,” David said. He pointed a finger and pressed it into Patrick’s bicep. “Ghosts aren’t real, Patrick.”

Patrick just shook his head and smiled. 

“Whatever you say, David.”

~

He stared at David, his face lit up by the warm lights lining the motel and the parking lot. This was it, this was his moment. David was looking at him so softly and his eyes were wide and teasing. Patrick just needed to lean into the moment and  _ kiss him.  _

But he was frozen. Everything was suspended in him as he tried to push himself to do it, but he couldn’t shake the  _ fear _ that had settled into his chest when he first saw Stevie walk into the cafe. 

David shifted forward, closer to him and Patrick followed his movement and then David wrapped a hand around Patrick’s jaw and kissed him. 

David  _ kissed _ him. 

The kiss was soft and short but it was everything that Patrick needed. When David pulled back, they both settled into their seats and Patrick let the breath he had held in his lungs out slowly. 

He felt lightheaded with the  _ want _ . Everything in his life shifted slightly and it clicked into place and  _ oh!  _

It made sense. Everything made sense. 

He thanked David, because he needed to. He himself had been terrified and he could only imagine how David felt and he needed to thank David for taking that step for him. 

When David closed the car door with a promise to see Patrick the next day, Patrick felt his muscles relax and the thoughts in his head clear. David leaned down through the open window and told him goodnight and Patrick catalogued it in his mind. He gave it its own box and he so desperately wanted to add more ‘goodnights’ to it, until it was full and overflowing with warmth and affection and he could take it out and flip through each memory during cold, lonely nights. 

He watched David walk into his room, made sure that David was settled before he pulled out of the driveway. He wasn’t ready to go back to Ray’s, so he drove to Rose Apothecary, where their relationship had really begun. They had met at Ray’s, but Patrick had fallen in love with David in their store. 

He put that ‘in love’ feeling into another box. He had to tuck that one away until the time was right. It was too much to feel on their first date. 

Patrick was parked in front of Rose Apothecary when he saw that woman standing on the stoop. He could clearly see her black cable knit sweater, dark gray trousers and wide smile on her face. He got out of his car, engine still running as he walked up to the stairs. He stopped in front of her, but as he reached out to touch her, she began to disappear. 

He stood there, staring at the empty space long after she left, the front of Rose Apothecary lit up by his headlights. 

Patrick would never see her again. The next morning, any uneasiness he felt in the store was gone. The random sounds stopped. Products stopped moving. The upstairs storage room was the same temperature as downstairs. There were no more dripping walls. He would take another nap in the back months after, this time with no horrible dream. 

All he felt was love and peace as he and David learned how to navigate a young, but promising relationship. He still thought of her often, the smile she had given him after David kissed him for the first time would always be ingrained in his mind. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr [as samwhambam](https://samwhambam.tumblr.com/) ! Come yell at me about all things david and patrick!
> 
> If I didn't properly tag something, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I want everyone to enjoy this fic and make sure that I warn readers who might be sensitive to something.


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